Apsalus Hunt

"There's no mistake, it's the Apsalus."

Shiro Amada, whose standby position was closer to the source of the sound, immediately reported what he had witnessed over the comms.

"I can see two flying Goufs, but I haven't confirmed the silhouette of the Apsalus yet."

Shiro Amada had raised his periscope the moment he woke up to observe the situation.

Fortunately, the strong winds in the desert at night had blown enough sand onto their camouflage netting, allowing the Ground Type to blend even more seamlessly into the environment.

This allowed Shiro Amada to conduct his observations right under the enemy's nose.

"Dopp Fighters... nine of them?"

"No, it's twelve. A squadron just flew right over my head."

Eli immediately supplemented the intelligence observed by Shiro Amada.

"Twelve Dopps, six Zakus, two Goufs, and that big guy. Captain, are we still attacking?"

Sanders first verified the known intelligence from his own vantage point before asking the question.

"This isn't looking good, these numbers."

Even though Eli had already estimated the Zeon defensive forces with the utmost caution, he was still shocked by the scale of their commitment.

While Dopp Fighters didn't pose much of a threat to Mobile Suits, he hadn't expected to see a flight-type Gouf, let alone two.

He knew there would be differences between reality and the show, but this discrepancy was truly massive.

This mobile force was an armored unit capable of keeping the rear lines awake at night, even on the front lines; yet, the already manpower-strapped Zeon had managed to deploy it to the rear.

It seemed that nearly shooting down the Apsalus had made the Zeon side quite sensitive.

"Calculating the time, the White Base should have at least reached this region by now."

Although Eli had delivered such a cool line to Karen at the time, the prospect of recklessly leading the two of them to launch a full-scale assault on Zeon now weighed heavily on his mind.

However, if the White Base could serve as reinforcements—even if they could arrive quickly after the battle started—it would give Eli the confidence to issue the order to attack.

"Damn it..."

He still remembered that in the original plot, Shiro Amada and his team had waited nearly a week before the Apsalus appeared.

Eli could afford to wait, but the White Base couldn't stay at the Southeast Asia base indefinitely.

Before Eli could think any further, a thick shadow cast itself over the clouds in the sky.

Immediately after, the Apsalus descended, breaking through the cloud cover and appearing within the field of vision of Eli and his team.

"Is this... the Apsalus II?"

Looking at the significantly altered exterior, Eli made his judgment.

There were three Apsalus units in total. The first tested the Minovsky Particle Flight Unit, the second tested the Mega Particle Cannon, and the third was the complete version.

Seeing the Mega Particle Cannon muzzle added to the front of this Apsalus, Eli felt even more nervous.

This thing was a terrifying weapon capable of shaving off half a mountain at full power. The fact that Michel had survived in front of the Apsalus II in the show was entirely due to Aina holding back.

Eli swallowed hard.

"What do we do, Eli?"

Shiro Amada's voice rang out over the comms again.

However, he was clearly suppressing his emotions, holding back his restless heart, and choosing to follow Eli's orders first.

"Give the order, Captain."

Sanders was even more straightforward; as a Federation soldier, he possessed sufficient discipline.

What to do? Should he gamble? Gamble that the White Base had already arrived nearby and would move in the moment they launched their attack?

Eli bit his lip, staring at the Apsalus before him.

The Apsalus had clearly slowed down, reaching a speed that even a Mobile Suit could keep up with on foot.

A flash of realization crossed Eli's eyes.

The kind-hearted Aina was concerned about the Zakus and infantry guarding both sides and had no intention of accelerating through.

Without a doubt, this was yet another reason to launch an attack.

But, but...

Under this level of firepower, even the armor of the Ground Type wouldn't be able to withstand it.

Just as Eli was still hesitating, two squadrons of six Dopps suddenly broke away from their patrol and flew toward the south.

They even flew directly over Eli's position!

"What's going on?"

Eli immediately turned the lens of his periscope, and soon discovered that the Dopps, now just tiny black dots on the horizon, had entered into combat.

The explosions of missiles and machine guns echoed incessantly in that part of the sky.

At this instant, it felt as if the sound of electricity surged through Eli's ears.

"It's Amuro, he's piloting the Core Fighter!"

"What? That boy?"

Shiro Amada also operated the camera to look, only to find that at this distance, it was completely impossible to distinguish the two sides of the battle.

"Is it intuition again?"

Compared to Shiro Amada, who was still in shock, Sanders had already taken his seat, continuously pressing the buttons in front of him to awaken the steel giant.

"It's something even more unbelievable than intuition. But regardless, we're going in!"

Eli gripped the control sticks with both hands, and the perspective on the screen in front of him immediately switched to the feed captured by the dual-eye cameras.

The Ground Type stood up straight, shaking off the sand and camouflage netting from its body.

A large cloud of hot air vented from the cooling grilles on its left chest.

During this process, the Beam Rifle in its right hand was already raised!

"Hum!"

A pink beam of light tore through the night, piercing straight through a Zaku on the edge of the rift that was still in the middle of turning!

"There are enemy fighters in the nearby airspace; the Dopp have already gone to intercept."

Norris listened to his subordinate's report, his brows furrowing instantly.

A single fighter, logically speaking, shouldn't be a major issue, but just like Eli, he immediately grasped the critical point of the situation.

There must be a warship nearby.

Thinking of this, Norris immediately transmitted the photo sent by his subordinate to the other Flight Test Type Gouf flying beside him.

Inside it was the Blue Giant Star, Ramba Ral.

"Lord Ramba Ral, may I ask if this fighter belongs to the Trojan Horse?"

As Norris sent the photo, he immediately asked for confirmation.

When it came to the safety of Lady Aina, Norris dared not be careless.

"Yes, it belongs to the Trojan Horse. In other words, the Trojan Horse is already nearby... What a sharp sense of smell."

Seeing the familiar red and blue fighter, Ramba Ral gave an affirmative answer immediately.

Norris nodded and operated his unit to fly to the side of the Apsalus Zaku core component.

"Lady Aina, please gain altitude and retreat immediately; the Federation forces have arrived."

"Ah, already... Understood. What kind of Federation force is attacking?"

"It is the unit from the Trojan Horse..."

"Hum!"

Just as Norris finished his reply, he saw a pink beam of light destroy a Zaku at an extremely close range!

The camera zoomed in immediately, revealing a silhouette already very familiar to this Southeast Asia theater of war.

"The Devil of 06, what terrible timing..."

After confirming the unit's serial number, Norris swept a glance with the corner of his eye toward the Apsalus cockpit position on his screen.

The turbine blades on the legs of the Flight Test Type Gouf hummed, pushing the unit to climb.

In this short span of time, beams were fired from two other directions as well, shooting down more Zakus.

"I will protect Lady Aina!"